how does latitude effect the weather?

Answer 1

It is not the lattitude itself that has an effect on the weather (actually you should have said climate), it is the different angles of received sunlight at different latitudes that alters it.
Equatorial latitudes receive the most direct angle of sunlight throughout the year. You will neither experience any signs of seasons nor changes in daylight times. As you start moving toward either pole(North or South) those angles are about to change and so is the climate. First ,you will start to notice seasons, roughly along latitudes between 25 and 30 degrees, increasing strength toward mid-latitudes of 40-50 degrees, until they become very rough with extreme temperature differences between summer and winter near or along the polar circle. Summers are becoming ever-shorter here, while the winters are long and very cold. Beyond the polar circles, summers will practically cease to exist as you approach the pole. Only long periods of darkness and daylight time indicate the change of seasons, with freezing temperatures all year round (permafrost), due to a very low solar angle during the polar "summer" and no sunlight at all for about 6 months at the poles themselves.

Answer 2

This is pretty open ended question with a huge amount of information that could be covered. However, some of the big points are:

The further north and south you are from the equator, the less direct sunlight the Earth receives from the sun. Generally, the more direct the sunlight hitting the Earth, the more it is heated. ( Sort of like putting a spoon near a lighter. If the curved part is facing the flame, then the apex of that curve would be heated the fastest) With enough exposure, the entire spoon would get fairly equally hot. The key point though is it would be "Heated faster"
Because of the night and day cycle, the part closest to the sun and receiving the most direct light will heat the fastest.

You didn't ask about heat though right? Maybe suprisingly to you, you did. Because of the fact that different parts of the Earth will be heated faster then others is essentially what creates weather patterns. Cold air is heavier then warm air and will slide underneath warm air as it moves. There is also High pressure and Low pressure, as air is heated it becomes less densely packed together. Higher pressure air moves to 'fill in' lower pressure air. ( This is sort of like a balloon. As you fill up a balloon you are increasing the air pressure of that balloon. This higher air pressure pushes out against the latex to expand it. When you pop it, the balloon blows apart as the higher pressure air bursts out to try to equalize itself with the lower pressure air surrounding it.)

Most commonly, the closer you are to the equator the warmer and more humid the air will be. This air will move north and south toward air of less pressure and less temperature causing weather patterns. The further north or south you go from the equator, the colder and my dry the air is likely to be...except for when it is being influenced by the geography of the earth and being effected by the movement of weather systems generated from this uneven heating.)

Huh? How a hurricane will dump huge amount of water from the equator region toward Florida is an example of what i mean of how storms patterns will possibly make southern Florida more moist then say Cuba ( I dont know if that is true).

Geography of the Earth in a region also will change this norm. Take the arid desert of Arizona. While there is plenty of storm activity that moves near that area..its still very dry when states nearby it may receive much more precipitation over a year. The reason is because of the Rocky Mountain range. Because the spin of the Earth, weather systems move in a general West to East path. So a big storm moving off the Pacific ocean, across California should be due to hit Arizona. The problem is that storm system will have to pass the Rocky Mountain range first. As the system hits the Rockies it will be pushed upwards to pass over the mountains. As this air rises, it cools. As it cools, the storm will hit its dewpoint ( The temperature that condensation forms) and the storm will begin to lose its moisture in the form of rain or snow. By the time it gets over the rockies, the air is dry and leaves parts of Arizona as desert.

Told ya this was a huge topic. Basically though, your general answer is this much in a nutshell.

Answer 3

The earth is round, and rotates on its north south axis. The part of the earth that is closest to the sun is the equator. Then you get into a bit of physics - how heat affects the atmosphere, helps water evaporate, just to name two.
Latitude itself does not "effect" (the correct word, by the way is "affect") the weather. Latitude is a unit of measurement, just as longitude is.
I would bet your local TV weather forecaster gives speaches about the weather at some of the local schools. Or give him/her a call.

Answer 4

The farther from zero the latitude is, the colder the weather will be.

Answer 5

higher latitudes get less insolation hence are colder than lower latitudes (other things being equal)